Chapter 17 — Exercises

Work these with a pencil, a calculator, and the canonical Northgate and Willow Street numbers in front of you. Several of them produce artifacts that belong directly in your Willow Street Project Notebook. Selected answers appear in Appendix J.

Difficulty legend: ⭐ basic · ⭐⭐ applied · ⭐⭐⭐ advanced judgment · ⭐⭐⭐⭐ research and extension

Canonical figures you will need:

Part A — Conceptual Understanding ⭐

A1. In your own words, what is the difference between the design of the building and the design of the building of it? Name three specific documents that belong to the second one and say who produces each.

A2. Define AHJ. Name four different authorities that could be the AHJ for four different approvals on the same project.

A3. What is a SWPPP, and what four things besides the written document does a functioning construction stormwater program require?

A4. Explain the difference between a permit and a license agreement, using the Northgate crane oversail as your example. Who issues each? What can you do if the answer is no?

A5. Why can a project team be unable to pull the mechanical permit even though the building permit has been issued for six weeks? Trace the dependency chain backward to its root.

A6. List the six columns of a permit matrix and say what decision each column supports.

A7. Why is a pre-construction condition survey performed before ground is disturbed rather than after damage is alleged? Answer in terms of evidence, not fairness.

A8. Name three things a certificate of occupancy is not. Then say what it actually is.

A9. Why does a project's administrative structure — cost codes, numbering, folder structure, distribution — become effectively unchangeable after roughly three weeks?

A10. What is the single question in the owner preconstruction meeting agenda that most directly prevents the CO #14 failure, and what is the correct form of the answer?

A11. Name the four items on a mobilization schedule that must be complete before any worker performs any task, and say what each one controls.

A12. Give two reasons a subcontractor kickoff meeting is run by the general superintendent rather than the project manager.

Part B — Applied Analysis ⭐⭐

B1. The four questions. Margo asked Dani four questions on the empty Northgate site: where does concrete come in, where does the crane stand, where do 210 people park, and what happens to the clinic. For each question, name (a) the deliverable that answers it, (b) the person who owns that deliverable, and (c) the date relative to NTP by which it must exist. Then add a fifth question you would ask on a site of your own choosing, and answer the same three parts.

B2. Phase inversion. Explain, using Northgate, why the binding site constraint changes from haul-truck cycle time to crane reach to parking and gate throughput across the three phases. Then predict the binding constraint for a fourth phase — the last sixty days, when commissioning, punch, and owner FF&E deliveries overlap — and say what logistics change it forces.

B3. The utility gap. Your electrical subcontractor says the permanent power date is the utility's responsibility. The owner says it is in your scope because it is on your schedule. Draft the utility responsibility matrix for Northgate: one row per service (temp power, permanent 3,000A service, domestic water and meter, fire service and backflow, sanitary connection, natural gas, telecom), with columns for applicant, who pays the utility's cost estimate, who signs it, who schedules the connection or shutdown, and the required-on-site date. Where you do not know an answer, write "UNASSIGNED" — those cells are the exercise.

B4. Trade permits and buyout. Cardinal Mechanical's buyout slips four weeks. Trace every downstream consequence you can identify, through the mechanical permit, through underground plumbing, to the slab-on-grade pour. Then propose two mitigations: one that costs money and one that costs only attention.

B5. Neighbor triage. You are building a six-story residential building on a tight urban site. Your neighbors are: a coffee shop with sidewalk seating on your south, a twelve-unit apartment building on your east whose bedrooms face you, an elementary school two blocks north on the only truck route, and a synagogue on your west that holds services Friday evening and Saturday morning. Write the one-page community notification letter and list the specific work-hour and delivery-window commitments you would make to each neighbor. Say which of your commitments will cost you money and estimate whether it is worth it.

B6. Reading a mobilization chain. From the Northgate mobilization schedule in §17.6, identify the longest chain of dependent activities and state its total duration in work days. Then answer: if the stormwater permit is issued eight work days late, which activities slip, and by how much?

B7. The layout scope gap. You are reviewing five subcontract scope sheets — sitework, concrete, structural steel, mechanical, and drywall — and none of them mentions layout. Write the single sentence you would insert into each scope sheet, tailored to that trade, and explain in one line what specific double-payment or gap each sentence prevents.

B8. Reasonable versus front-loaded. Kestrel's documented one-time mobilization cost on Northgate is $246,300. Explain the difference between including that as an early schedule-of-values line and inflating it to $600,000. Identify the specific check a competent owner's representative runs to detect the second one.

Part C — Calculations & Deliverables ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐

C1. Price a gating permit. ⭐⭐ The Northgate land-disturbance permit is issued 15 calendar days after NTP instead of before it. Mass excavation is on the critical path with zero float and the slip lands on substantial completion. The earthwork subcontractor submits a standby and remobilization claim of $27,500.

(a) Compute extended general conditions. (b) Compute liquidated damages exposure. (c) Compute the total exposure including the sub's claim. (d) Express the total as a number of days of Northgate's general-conditions burn. (e) The permit application takes one project engineer half a day. Express the return on that half-day as a ratio.

C2. Build the Willow Street permit matrix. ⭐⭐⭐ Produce the full six-column matrix for the Willow Street Community Center: permit or approval, issuing authority, assumed lead time, prerequisite, cost carried, and what it gates. Minimum fifteen rows. Include at least: land disturbance, construction stormwater and the SWPPP, the building permit, the four trade permits, fire marshal review, health department review for the commercial kitchen, right-of-way and lane-closure permits, a tree-removal permit for the wooded north edge, elevator (if you provide one), utility service applications, and the certificate of occupancy. Then mark the three rows with the least slack and state the filing date for each relative to NTP.

C3. Back-schedule three permits. ⭐⭐ Using your C2 matrix, take three permits and back-schedule each one formally:

Date required in hand − review duration − resubmittal allowance − application preparation time = file-by date

Show the arithmetic for each and state the date relative to NTP. Then answer: which of the three has the earliest file-by date, and is it the one you would have guessed?

C4. The Willow Street logistics plan, three versions. ⭐⭐⭐ Draw all three phase versions (sitework and foundations; structure and enclosure; interiors and closeout). For each, show fence and gates, truck route, crane or lift position, laydown, trailer, parking, sanitary, dumpsters, temp power and water, fire lanes, and the erosion-control perimeter. Annotate the school-zone protocol on every version, including your delivery blackout windows.

For each version, write one paragraph naming the binding constraint. If your three paragraphs name the same constraint, revisit the third one.

C5. The Willow Street mobilization schedule and its cost. ⭐⭐⭐ Build a mobilization schedule of 15–20 activities with durations in work days, predecessor logic, and a named responsible party. Then price it. Scale sensibly from Northgate: Willow Street is 2.1 flat acres against 6.2 sloping acres, a $6.8M contract against $47.5M, a much smaller trailer complex, and far less temporary power.

(a) What is your total one-time mobilization cost? (b) Estimate the Willow Street general-conditions budget as a percentage of contract value and state your assumption. (c) What percentage of that GC budget does mobilization consume? (d) Compare your percentage to Northgate's 8.5% and explain any difference in terms of the fixed versus variable components of mobilization.

C6. Cash-flow consequence of mobilization. ⭐⭐ You spend your C5 mobilization total in the first three weeks. Your first pay application goes in on the 25th of the month and is paid 30 days later.

(a) Estimate the number of days between the average mobilization expenditure and the receipt of cash for it. (b) At a 9% annual cost of capital, what does that float cost you? (c) Name two legitimate contractual mechanisms that reduce this exposure, and one illegitimate one.

C7. Daily rate for Willow Street. ⭐⭐ Northgate's combined daily exposure is $10,650/CD ($5,150 extended GC + $5,500 LDs). Derive the equivalent figure for Willow Street. State your general-conditions assumption explicitly, show the division by 425 calendar days, add the $1,200/CD liquidated damages, and state the result. Then answer the question that makes the number useful: what does a one-week permit delay cost you on Willow Street, and is that more or less than the cost of the staff time required to prevent it?

C8. The oversail decision, re-run. ⭐⭐⭐ Case Study 1 priced three ways to erect the Northgate northeast bay. Rebuild that table with two changes: (i) the license fee Ardmore actually demands is $85,000, not $22,000, and (ii) the crane upsize option would add 6 calendar days rather than 9.

(a) Recompute all three totals at $10,650/CD. (b) Which option now wins, and by how much? (c) At what license fee do Option 1 and Option 3 break even? Show the algebra. (d) You are now negotiating with a known walk-away number. Write the two sentences you would say to Ardmore's managing partner.

C9. Gate throughput at peak. ⭐⭐ Northgate peaks at 210 craft workers in week 61. Badging through a single reader takes an average of 8 seconds per worker, and Margo wants everyone through the gate and at their work face by 6:30 a.m.

(a) How long does 210 workers through one reader take? (b) If workers begin arriving at 6:00 a.m., is one gate sufficient? Show the arithmetic. (c) How many readers do you need to clear the queue in 12 minutes? (d) Kestrel's average fully burdened craft cost is roughly $68/hour. What does 10 minutes of daily queuing cost across 210 workers over a 60-work-day period?

Part D — Judgment & Ethics ⭐⭐⭐

D1. The oversail you did not get. Ardmore Properties refuses the license agreement outright. Your erection plan requires the oversail, steel starts in eleven weeks, and your options are a $191,850 crane upsize or a $134,900 street closure that will make enemies of an entire residential block. Your superintendent suggests doing the northeast picks "early Saturday mornings when nobody's looking." Write the response you would give him, and then write what you would actually do. Be specific about what you would tell the owner and when.

D2. The permit that arrives on the wrong terms. Your building permit is issued with a condition attached that nobody anticipated: no construction traffic on the residential street before 8:00 a.m. Your schedule assumed 6:30 a.m. deliveries. Estimate the productivity impact, then decide: do you (a) absorb it, (b) request a variance and delay while it is heard, (c) proceed and hope, or (d) notify the owner in writing that this is a changed condition and preserve a claim? Defend your choice, and name the notice deadline you would need to check first.

D3. The neighbor's crack. Eight weeks into excavation, the clinic's landlord alleges that your work cracked their slab and demands $180,000. You have a pre-construction condition survey and continuous vibration monitoring showing you never exceeded threshold. Your project executive says "send them the data and tell them to pound sand." What do you actually do, and why is the aggressive answer usually the expensive one?

D4. Mobilization in the schedule of values. Your CFO asks you to put $450,000 on the mobilization line of a schedule of values against a documented mobilization cost of $246,300, on the reasoning that "everyone front-loads, the owner will negotiate it down anyway, and we need the cash." Write the two-paragraph response. One paragraph on the ethics, one on the mechanics of what happens when the owner's representative recalculates the line.

D5. The staffing decision. You are bidding a $22M public school. Carrying a project engineer for permits, submittals, and document control adds roughly $145,000 to your general conditions over the job. Your competitors will not carry one. Make the strongest case for carrying the role anyway — in dollars, using Case Study 2 — and then make the strongest case against it. Which argument would you actually make to a bid committee, and what would you propose instead if they said no?

Part M — Mixed / Interleaved Practice ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐

M1. Chapters 14 + 16 + 17 — the back-schedule chain. Take one long-lead item (the elevators: 2 passenger + 1 service) and one permit (the state elevator installation permit) and back-schedule both from the same required-on-site date. Show every subtraction. Then answer: which one has the earlier trigger date, and what does that tell you about the order in which you must do work in preconstruction?

M2. Chapters 6 + 17 — the risk register. Take the top five preconstruction risks from this chapter (permit delay, utility delay, neighbor action, oversail refusal, layout/setback error) and enter each into a risk register in the format from Chapter 6: description, probability, impact in dollars and days, owner, response strategy, and contingency drawdown trigger. Use the $10,650/CD rate to convert days to dollars.

M3. Chapters 5 + 17 — the AHJ and the contract. Your contract makes you responsible for "permits necessary for proper execution of the Work" and the owner responsible for "easements and permits for permanent occupancy." Classify each of these ten items as contractor, owner, or genuinely ambiguous, and for each ambiguous one write the sentence you would add to the contract to fix it: building permit · state health facility review · crane oversail license · street lane-closure permit · construction stormwater coverage · utility service connection fees · certificate of occupancy · elevator temporary-use permit · food-service plan review · a zoning variance for a setback error caused by a layout mistake.

M4. Chapters 13 + 17 — pricing the plan. Your detailed estimate carried general conditions as a lump percentage. Rebuild the mobilization portion from first principles for Willow Street using the twelve-line format in §17.6, and compare it to whatever your percentage-based number implied. Explain any difference greater than 15% in terms of a specific site condition.

M5. Chapters 16 + 17 — the buyout-to-permit interlock. Build a table of the four trade permits (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection) showing, for each: the buyout date it depends on, the permit lead time, the resulting permit-in-hand date, and the first field activity it gates. Identify the trade whose buyout date is the true schedule driver, and say whether that matches the order in which you would have bought them out.

M6. Chapters 14 + 17 — mobilization as CPM. Take the Northgate mobilization schedule from §17.6 and run a proper forward and backward pass on it. Identify the critical path, compute total float for each non-critical activity, and state which single activity you would compress first if you needed to shorten mobilization by three work days — and what compressing it would cost.

Part E — Research & Extension ⭐⭐⭐⭐

E1. Your own jurisdiction. Pick a real city or county — the one you live in is ideal. Find its building department's website and answer, from primary sources only: (a) what permits are required for a 25,000 SF two-story commercial building on a two-acre site; (b) what the published or typical plan-review time is; (c) whether a pre-application meeting is offered and how you request one; (d) how permit fees are calculated; (e) what separate approvals exist for grading, right-of-way use, and food service. Produce it as a permit matrix. Note every place the published information was incomplete or ambiguous — that list is the real deliverable, because it is the list of questions you would bring to the pre-application meeting.

E2. Construction stormwater where you are. Locate the construction stormwater permit that applies in your state or country. Answer: what disturbance threshold triggers it, what the filing mechanism is, what the waiting period is between filing and effective coverage, what inspection frequency it requires, what a post-rain-event inspection requires and at what rainfall depth, and how long records must be retained. Compare what you find to the illustrative fourteen-day period in Case Study 2 and note the difference. Do not generalize your answer to other jurisdictions.

E3. Walk a site. Find an active construction project you can legally observe from a public sidewalk. Spend thirty minutes and reverse-engineer its logistics plan: fence line, gates, truck route, crane position and swing, laydown, trailers, dumpsters, pedestrian protection, and worker parking. Sketch it. Then write 400 words on the phase the project appears to be in, what its binding constraint appears to be, and one decision you would have made differently — with the reason. Observe from public property only, do not enter the site, and do not photograph workers.